PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester baseball team completed its second straight conference weekend sweep, taking two games from Bard College on Sunday afternoon at Towers Field, clinching the Liberty League regular season title in the process.
The Yellowjackets (24-14) earned a 5-0 shutout win in game one and jumped ahead early in game two with five runs in the first inning, leading to a 12-3 victory. Bard ends its season with a 13-22 record overall and 7-15 mark in the Liberty League.
UR's eight-game winning streak to close the regular season vaulted the Yellowjackets to the top of the conference standings with a 17-7 record, earning Rochester the right to host the Liberty League Tournament for the second year in a row.
Last season, Rochester secured the regular season championship on the last day of the season with a win at RIT. This year, two RIT losses at Rensselaer on Sunday helped UR claim its fourth conference regular season crown in school history.
In game one, Rochester pitchers Jack Denzer and Brendan Shamieh combined on a four-hit shutout, while striking out nine Raptor hitters.
Denzer went five innings, allowed four hits, one walk while striking out six, earning his fourth victory of the year. Shamieh closed out the win going two perfect innings, fanning three.
The offense came in two innings. In the fourth, Harper Sy singled in Jack Herman for the first run, with David Riethfollowing with a single to center, driving in Sy.
In the sixth, it was Rieth again, this time driving in two with a single down the left field line. Jake Hertz and Luke Polsonscored on the play. Aiden Finch then hit his 50th career double, scoring Rieth to make the score 5-0 Rochester.
Rieth finished game one going 2-3 with three RBI and a run scored. Sy also went 2-3 at the plate, with an RBI and run. Hertz did not record an at-bat, but reached three times, two via walk and one after being hit by a pitch.
Evan Matthews was tagged with the loss, surrendering five runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings on the mound. He had three strikeouts and issued four walks. Elliott Goldstein finished off the game for the Raptors.
The nightcap started strong for the Yellowjackets, as a big two-out rally in the top of the first gave UR a 5-0 lead. After a Rieth single was erased by a double play, the next eight batters reached safely, five via walk, allowing Rochester to jump ahead.
Both Herman and Finch scored on passed balls, while Sy provided an RBI single. Joseph Rende completed the big inning, lining a single to right, scoring two runs.
Zach Miraz added a sacrifice fly in the second inning to make the 6-0 UR. That run was answered when Bard's Julian Gonzalez grounded out to second, scoring Rory Maglich who reached on a leadoff single.
Maglich provided an RBI groundout of his own in the third inning, trimming the Yellowjacket lead to 6-2. But Rochester starter Trevor Van Allen minimized the damage, stranding two runners on after getting another groundout to end the inning.
In the fourth, Steve Pickering led off with a double, followed by a Finch walk. Herman then stepped up and clobbered a home run over the left field fence for a 3-run shot, increasing Rochester's lead to 9-2.
Four more Yellowjacket walks in the fifth inning aided in two more runs coming home. Finch drove in Corey Ziring with a sacrifice fly, while Miraz drove in a run when he walked with the bases loaded.
The teams traded single runs in the eighth inning to complete the scoring.
Van Allen picked up his third win of the year on the hill for Rochester. The first-year went six innings, allowed four hits and two runs. He walked four and struck out one. Senior Kevin Ho pitched 2.1 innings in relief and classmate Tyler McConway got the last two outs of the game in what was the senior's final regular season game of their careers.
Three Yellowjackets, Pickering, Finch and Herman all scored two runs in game two. Pickering and Rende finished with two hits, while Herman, Rende and Miraz all drove in multiple runs.
Rochester will now host the Liberty League Tournament next Thursday through Saturday. Clarkson (20-15) will be the #2 seed, followed by 3rd-seeded RIT (21-16) who both finished with 15-7 records in the conference. RPI (19-17, 15-9 LL) and Union (18-20, 14-10 LL) will be the fourth and fifth teams to qualify and will battle in a wild card game to see who enters into the double-elimination 4-team field.